Hey team! First thread so go easy on me ;D
Need some advice. I'm wanting a laptop on a budget. These two have good prices imo ->
Out of the two, what would you recommend and why?
I have a 3 year old gaming PC at home, use it for all the heavy stuff. Will use the laptop for Word, excel, browsing and maybe movies.
I'm open to other recommendations, even up to $1000, but prefer something on the cheaper side as it probably won't get used too much.
Many thanks!
Both are pretty ordinary, AMD A8/A10 processors and HD (not FHD) screen
Would recommend one of those Lenovos that keep coming up on Ozbargain, or a refurbished Dell from the Dell DFO.
Look out for an i5/i7 processor, 8GB ram minimum, SSD and a FHD (preferably) IPS screen
OP said
I have a 3 year old gaming PC at home, use it for all the heavy stuff. Will use the laptop for Word, excel, browsing and maybe movies.
…so A8/A10 is plenty, and i5/i7 and 8GB RAM are both overkill.
OP, you could probably get buy with something around $500 from here:
http://www.dell.com/au/p/deals/popular-laptop-deals
The only feature I can think of that you might like that's usually on sub-$500 laptops is a 1080p IPS screen for the movie watching. (But most people who care about the image quality for movies will want to use a big-screen TV or projector anyway).
Thanks for the replies. I forgot to mention it has to look alright-ish, I will be showing clients stuff on it I guess, I might use it for online courses too.
Feel free to link anything for me to see. I'm somewhat a newbie when it comes to stuff like this hah, I've been out of the market for too long :)
In this case, both are consumer laptops and will look & feel cheap and plasticky if you have them in front of clients.
Also another +1 for FHD for this reason. However, if you are showing graphics then you will want to make sure it has an IPS screen for the colour range too.
Dell Latitude 7000 series and Lenovo T series, HP Probook or Elitebooks have a nice, solid, professional feel.
Example - Refurb Dell 14" Latitude 7000, i5 8GB and 128GB SSD will set you back under $800, and will be miles better in appearance and speed than those. New Lenovo T460 in the same spec was on sale not long ago for $608
Thanks for the informative reply. You can see my experience with laptops is pretty limited.
This is the right link for dell refurbs, right? I can't find one with those specs for $800
http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/product…
They update that page every few days, and the good ones like the Latitude 14 7000 tend to sell quickly. Check Monday/Tues around 10am
If you're after something light and portable, I've recently grabbed one of these for uni:
https://www.centrecom.com.au/acer-aspire-133-fhd-intel-core-… (i7, 13.3" IPS, 8GB, 256GB SSD - $999)
They've also got a more cost efficient version:
https://www.centrecom.com.au/acer-aspire-133-core-i5-ultra-p… (i5, 13.3" IPS, 4GB, 256GB SSD - $799)
Otherwise, wait for one of those Lenovo deals to pop up again. They're always good value for money.
how about a chromebook? inexpensive. will do the basic stuff you want. they look pretty decent/sleek.
I needed something slightly more heavy duty than a Chromebook, I have used on before.
Well guys and gals, I went and bought this…
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/201792588551
Thanks for the help and pointers everyone!
Great choice! Let us know of your review once you receive it!
Will do!
Also for those wondering, it cost me $720 shipped.
How did you manage that price?
Make sure you grab an SSD to replace the main hard drive in that, will make a night and day difference for $60 (120GB)
@blonky: 20% off ebay sale. Can't remember what the code was exactly, but it wasn't Cyber. And thanks for the tip, I will look into getting one. It made a hella lot of a difference for my gaming PC!
Also, thanks to the mod who edited my thread and done a touch up :)
buy an inexpensive second hand laptop (with ok CPU and upgradability) . beef up the ram (e.g. 8gb) . install ssd (by removing optical drive) and make it the primary drive - just a small SSD e.g. 128gb so it boots like a boss - keep original drive for storage.
and buy a new battery (if you want it to be portable).
you're not using it for any thing that a 10 year old laptop couldn't manage.
I have an 8 year old emachines laptop for movies and browsing. 64gb SSD (primary), 500gb HDD storage (secondary), 4gb ram, win 10. not an issue. got it for $20 with original basic specs and added the extra ram and ssd which were recovered from another laptop which was free but dead.